Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Takes Away Student’s Rights

The Obama administration negotiated two years for fairer laws pertaining to students who have loans with educational institutions that either defrauded them or went out of business. (Trump University anyone?) The rules were known as the borrower’s defense and were scheduled to be put in place July 1st.

The states ( California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington) say that the justification is just an excuse to repeal and replace.

Last week 47 Democrats and independent Senator Bernie Sanders sent a letter to DeVos protesting the delay and the use of litigation (which has never been used before in that department). Congressional Democrats and advocacy groups are ready to do battle to protect the Obama era rights to hold for profit schools accountable, while the Trump administration sees them as oppressive.

The Washington Post reported on two students who were suing the Education Department. ‘The suit says the students were counting on protections in the new rules to sue the New England Institute of Art, which they say deceived them and left them with few job prospects and heavy debt. The school’s parent company did not immediately comment.’